My boys at the beach

Check out my chair....and my cute kid.

I got a new cool FREE chair today thanks to freecycle and a friend from church. I figured the chair search would take much longer than it did. The search was only going on for about a week or so. Thanks, Jennifer. Your ex-chair will be put to good use. I was very eager to get her out and let her stretch her legs and pose for some pictures. She obliged. I took my favorite male model out with me.

Jackson agreed to model for me under the following conditions: (Jackson always has conditions.)

1. He needed to be paid a fee of $5.00 for his time and cuteness. He really wanted the money up front but settled for after the fact. He didn't make me sign anything, thankfully.

2. He needed to be able to bring his sword.

3. I had to take a picture of him with his sword.

4. I must post the aforementioned sword picture online for everyone to see.

5. I had to replace the gum I made him spit out during the chair shoot.

I think that's it. He thought the whole thing was really fun. Just to be able to jump in a nice chair outside on a gravel road is kind of a new experience for most kids. After we did a few with the shirt on, I asked him if we could take a few without the shirt. And he said, "I guess. I don't know why we're doing this. It's probably against the law." I told him that I seriously doubt trespassing on private property, taking off your clothes, and taking pictures is illegal. Good grief, that child. Whose kid is he anyway?

I had a lot of fun taking and editing these pictures. Since this is my kid, I was able to do some serious Photoshop experimentation. Some of the editing is a little over the top but I like it. Now, I would like to introduce you to my new cool FREE chair.

Say hi. If you or your family would like to meet my new cool FREE chair in person, I can arrange a meeting.

Love this....

I've been playing around with some different finishes. I really like this one a lot.




In other news, I've been on the lookout for a cool chair that I can use. I may have found one. For FREE!! Well, I haven't gone and looked at it yet, but it sounds like it might be a good one to use for some pictures. So if it looks like what I have in mind, I'll be using it on Friday for some chubby baby pictures.

Problem #1: Where will I put the chair in my house?

Problem #2: How will I get the chair from my house to a shoot?

Oh, I'll worry about that after I bring the chair home. One thing at a time, right?

$25 off Advertisement

It's 1:30 in the morning. I should not be up doing this stuff but at least the kids aren't interrupting me. I have ordered 48 of these advertising post cards. In a few days they will be strategically placed around the City of Lake Jackson. So I hope some of you find them and use them. And if any of my photo competitors find them and throw them away, shame on you. That's all I have to say to you. Shame, shame, shame.

If anyone has any suggestions of places I can put these, e-mail me and tell me. Don't post it on the blog. That wouldn't be smart. It's like a hide and go seek game. I'll hide, you seek.

A few more of Emma's family

I thought I would post a few more pictures from yesterday on here. I don't have anything better to be doing right now other than playing around on facebook. (BTW, if you want to friend me on facebook you can search for jhintze@jhintze.com. I'll send you some flair!)

Anyway, I've been playing with some muted color techniques in photoshop. The one of the girls reading the book is muted by layering a regular color, a sepia, and a b&w and adjusting them and overlaying them until it looks like I want it to. I think it looks kind of cool. I won't get rid of the regular color pictures but I'll probably offer a couple of muted along with a couple of sepia per shoot.

And just F.Y.I., my son, Jackson, wants to marry Emma. They were in the same kindergarten class. I showed him some of these pictures of her and he asked me if I could print one out for him. If Emma's mom doesn't mind I might have to get him a 4X6 to frame and put on his shelf. Funny.

Enough jabbering....on to the pictures!

A Beautiful New Family

These wonderful people are coming together as an official family next Saturday. Mom and Dad are getting married and these two little ones are going to be new sisters. It's so exciting and they look so great together. And these parents win the coveted "Most Relaxed Parent" Award for letting me give these girls lollipops in their white dresses. And they didn't even freak out when the little one got some on her dress. I think it was worth it, but I don't have to get out the stain. Congratulations, guys. Emma, you're going to be a great big sister!

Why I'm doing this thing called Photography

I know you're here to look at my pictures. And you may or may not care about my thoughts on things. But since I am somewhat of a writer too, you may occasionally be subject to not only my pictures, but also what's going on in my life or in my head. I think more than being an occasional writer or a photographer, I'm more of a documenter of sorts.

And so that's why I do this photography thing. To document. Because I feel satisfied with knowing that that look was captured for all time. That glimpse or that smirk or that kiss won't ever be entirely lost. I'm not in this to know the right lingo or win contests or attach any kind of fame to my name. I'm not in this to have the latest and coolest and most expensive gear. Not that there's anything wrong with that stuff. But that stuff can't be the why for me. And so that's why I'm writing this down. That's why I'm documenting how I feel right now, today. Because people change and their motivations change and their hearts change. And if someday that stuff becomes the why, I want to be able to go back to this point and read this and remember the real reason why I want to do this. I want to do this because people are important and people are eternal. The documented moment of that person is why I want to this thing called photography.

I'm pretty new to the photography biz. I'm still naive, green, unscathed so to speak. And I hope I'm able to hang on to that for a while. I'm somewhat jaded about many other things. I sincerely hope that I don't become jaded about this. I'm scared of becoming formulaic and stale in my approach. And I hope that I'm able to recognize it in myself if it happens. I hope I'm able to turn it around. I hope I'm able to recapture the why if I ever forget. And I hope those of you who really know me will be able to help me remember.

Jackson's puppet show

Our son, Jackson, decided to do a puppet show this evening. There are more on my personal blog if you're interested. You know you are.

July 4th Fireworks

We went to a friend's house the other night to watch the fireworks. This is my first experience with trying to photograph fireworks. And this is also really my first time to try to take pictures of stuff at night. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Maybe I'll stop taking pictures of kids and families and just concentrate on fireworks. There's a huge market for that, right? I could make money at that, couldn't I?

Sarah Grace

This isn't Sarah's first appearance on my photoblog. She is quite a ham when she's in the mood. We were sweating like crazy this morning. It was crazy hot but Sarah was a real trooper. The first one is my favorite. So cute.